KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — All activities in mosques and suraus, including congregational prayers, are to be suspended for 10 days starting from today, minister in charge of religious affairs Datuk Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri announced today.

Zulkifli, who was serving as the Federal Territories Mufti, said this decision applies to the Federal Territories, but said it would be up to the respective state Islamic authorities to decide on the implementation of the 10-day suspension.

Zulkifli made the announcement after receiving the assent of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on what was decided at a meeting yesterday involving a special committee of a national-level council on Islamic affairs.

He said the meeting yesterday at the Hotel Pulse Grande, Putrajaya had decided that "all activities in mosques and surau including Friday prayers and congregational prayers are postponed starting from March 17-26, 2020”.

"Mosque and surau committees are recommended to carry out cleaning and disinfection operations as a safety measure to avoid infection. The ten (10) day period is subject to the advice and views of the Health Ministry of Malaysia,” he said in his announcement today.

Zulkifli said the meeting had also decided on funeral arrangements in the event of deaths occurring due to Covid-19, with the management of the remains to be done according to a previous February 2015 decision by the same committee in its 107th meeting on how the remains of deceased Muslims suspected or confirmed of being infected with the Ebola virus are to be dealt with.

Zulkifli explained that the decision was that the usual management of deceased Muslims’ remains can be relaxed if there was possibility of harm to the lives of humans handling the remains.

"Bodies can be handled according to the tayammum procedure on the surface of the body bag (beg jenazah) or the plastic wrapper wrapping the body,” he said, referring to a dry purification ritual in Islam where water is not used.

What the 2015 decision said

In the 2015 decision on Muslims who died from Ebola, the committee referred by Zulkifli had said that the compulsory requirement for all Muslims to be washed before burial, but noted that this could be relaxed in situations that could cause harm to human lives.

In arriving at the decision to allow the dry purification ritual on the body bag or plastic wrapper that it said carried the least risk and danger, the committee that met in 2015 had noted that there was a high risk of infection of the potentially fatal Ebola virus for those who handle the bodies through direct contact with water contaminated by bodily fluids from the deceased. 

Datuk Seri Zulkifli Mohamad Al-Bakri said all activities in mosques and suraus, including congregational prayers, are to be suspended for 10 days starting from today. — Picture by Yusof Mat Isa

Applicable in FT with Agong’s assent

Zulkifli said the committee had made the two decisions based on discussions among themselves during yesterday’s meeting and a briefing to them by the Health Ministry.

He added the committee had decided that both the decisions regarding the 10-day suspension of mosque and surau activities, as well as the management of the remains of Muslim Covid-19 patients would be left to the respective state Islamic authorities’ consideration.

But for the Federal Territories, Zulkifli said the Agong had assented to the two decisions regarding mosque activities and funeral arrangement guidelines to be applicable there.

Matters regarding Islamic affairs in each state in Malaysia are administered separately by the respective state Islamic religious department and state Islamic religious councils, with the sultan as the head of Islam in the respective nine states and with the Agong as the head of Islam in the federal territories and in the four states without a sultan.

Malaysia currently has not recorded any deaths due to the Covid-19 virus.

Today, the Health Ministry announced that the total tally of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Malaysia had increased to 553 cases, with 511 of these cases under treatment and 42 already fully recovered.

Many of the recent spike in Covid-19 cases have been linked to those who attended a mass religious gathering at the Jamek Sri Petaling mosque in Kuala Lumpur that was held from February 27 to March 1.

For example, 95 of the new Covid-19 cases announced today were linked to this event, while 77 of the total cases in Malaysia as of March 14 were also linked to the event.

An estimated 16,000 attended the event at the mosque, with 14,500 Malaysians involved while the rest were from the region.

The Health Ministry said over 7,000 people who attended the mass gathering at the Kuala Lumpur mosque have gone to clinics for check-ups after the event’s leaders today urged the attendees to be screened for Covid-19.